MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hazzben]

Wow, big win for Bethel today in St. Peter.

To be honest, I thought after the UST loss they were in trouble. Going down to GAC in a must win is no easy thing. That's got to be a major confidence boost going into the playoffs.

[westie]

Ugly game for the Gusties today in St Peter.

1st half was VERY physical and relatively well played by both sides.  Seth had a huge first half to keep the Gusties in the game.  Taylor Hall was held in the check for the most part and forced to shoot from the outside.  The 2nd half was all Taylor Hall and good Bethel defense. The Gusties struggled to get any open looks and Seth had to force a bunch of shots...it wasn't pretty.

Of course the game wouldn't have been complete without some terrible MIAC officiating.  A number of WTF calls that had Hanson as angry as I have seen in years.   The officiating did not cost GAC the game but crippled any chance of a rally.

What is going on at Bethel?   Playing GOOD defense?  Not bombing away from behind the arc???

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

A hearty CONGRATS to Johnny Tauer for leading the UST men to the first MIAC title of the "Tauer Era" and the SEVENTH in a row...tying Joe Hutton's Hamline juggernaut of 1947-1953 for the league record for consecutive championships!!!

As expected, the Tommies flattened St Mary's for the 49th time in a row. They then got some help from Bethel who knocked down Gustavus, putting UST & GAC in a tie at the top.

UST is coming together nicely as the season winds down. Only 1 senior, 7 juniors (most of whom saw limited PT before this year) and a nice mix of sophs & frosh....and now homecourt throughout the MIAC Playoffs.  I'd say Nance, DeBerg and Kaiser should land spots on the coaches' All-MIAC Team and a case can be made for Nance, Kaiser and Tengwall on the All-Defense Team (altho I dont expect all 3 to make it).  And I'd say there is a very solid case to be made for Tauer as Coach of the Year....altho Hanson, Westlund and Koz deserve consideration, too.

Both first round matchups (ON WEDS) look intriguing....Bethel @ St Olaf could be as good as the OT playoff classic these 2 played at Bethel a few years back. SJU @ AUG is an interesting matchup too, depending which versions of each team turns up.

[miacsuperfan]

watched the entire gac/bu game saturday (no audio on my computer----shoot!!) and was amazed at the difference in athleticism between bethel and gustavus.  had you had just awakened from a three month coma, you would have assumed the royals were leading the league and gusties hustling to make the playoffs!  in the second half you almost felt sorry for the gusties, who were no match for the royals yesterday.  coach westlund deserves a lot of credit for holding that M*A*S*H unit together this winter and making the playoffs on the final day of the regular season.

the bu @ sto game should be a dandy, with olaf having swept the season series.  my guess is that koz is not looking forward to playing this royal team, though the oles have had their way this season with bu.   dawgs will hold serve vs. sju, who almost unbelievably wound up making the tournament. 

tough season ending win for vipes over mac.  great comeback but to no avail.   

[faunch]

Anybody ever witness something like this at an MIAC game?

Gugliotta and Corchiani ejected
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/26283066/34888799

[Drake Palmer]

Wow – miss the last day of the regular season and all kinds of insanity breaks out eh?  The Royals beat the Gusties! 

Looks like the law of averages finally caught up with both Bethel and Gustavus.  Bethel hadn't won in St. Peter since shortly after the turn of the century, while Gustavus maintained their superiority over the Royals despite having the less talented team in some years.

Westie - I was just as amazed as you were by this Royal defensive transformation.  In years past Bethel was like the Phoenix Suns and seemed to think the best defense was a strong offense.  Were it not for some streaky, unconscious deep ball shooting by UST on Wednesday night, Bethel could have swept both games this past week. Seven or eight years ago I started following MIAC hoops again.  IMO, this year's Bethel team was one of the best defensive squads I've seen come out of Arden Hills since the days Travis Jones played for Bethel. On the offensive side of the ball, the Royals have exceptional talents in Daniel Baah & Taylor Hall, but otherwise are quite ordinary.

Gusties have struggled all year to find a consistent scoring threat to complement Seth Anderson, and yesterday they just seemed to lose their mojo and fizzle out.   After a couple of days of rest and practice, I think Gustavus will be just fine and a very dangerous opponent next Friday. 

Good upps for the Tommies as they stayed the course, rubbed their lucky purple rabbit foot and got a share of the league championship.  Nice job by Coach Tauer, staff & team.  They're starting to get that certain look about them again.  As a neutral or opposing fan you wave your hand in mock disgust as they make another ridiculous shot or mug a player to get a defensive stop.

Coach of the Year Awards -  I would go with

Jeff Westlund
Mark Hanson

Neither team were projected to finish as high in the standings as they did.

Johnny Tauer

Mose- I would definitely go with John Nance & Noah Kaiser on the All Defense team, and with Nance & Will DeBerg on the All conference team. I've been saying this all year, John Nance is a stud and now maybe PI, Mose and others will start to believe me.     The other night he's guarding Taylor Hall in the first half and he's giving up 4 inches & 30 lbs or so to the guy. Hall had no points in the first half. I'm not as certain about Kaiser on the All-MIAC team.   

Quarterfinal Playoff Match ups

SJU @ Augsburg

In spite of how poorly the Johnnies have played in the last two weeks, I like their chances at Augsburg. The Jays' strength is their guard play which is the exact opposite of the Dawgs. However, if the Dawgs can neutralize the Johnnie guards, dominate on the inside, get AGG & Cory Polta to do a better job of passing out of the post, they should have their way against the SJU.

Bethel @ St. Olaf

I saw the OT playoff yawner (game) that Mose referred to 3-4 years ago when the Oles lulled the fans and the Royals into a deep slumber and won with the Killer Bs- Jon Bain, Jon (?) Butala, Steve Banick etal.  I thought I was at a sleep apnea overnight study group. Just kidding.  This year's game could be just as entertaining with a talented big man on each team, an erratic, but very talented 2G or wing, and a cast of others.  STO has the definite edge in the talent department, but as we've seen time and time again - ahem UST, SJU, STO, talent doesn't always win ball games.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Some interesting tidbits about the MIAC Playoffs....this is the 28th season with playoffs. The first 16 were 4-teams. In the 11 years that the playoff has been in its present format of 6 teams, with 1 & 2 getting first-round bye:   
         
The #1 seed has won the tourney 8 times. The exceptions were in 2003 when #2 GAC won it all, 2010 when #4 Carleton was champ and 2011 when #2 UST won
            
The #1 seed has made the title game 9 times. The 2010 UST and 2011 Carleton teams were the exceptions
            
The #2 seed has made the title game 10 times. The exception was in 2002 when #3 Bethel beat #2 GAC in the semifinals   
         
Higher seeds have won 18 of 20 semifinal games. The exceptions: 2002 when #3 Bethel beat #2 GAC and 2010 when #4 Carleton beat St. Thomas
            
Higher seeds have won 15 of 22 quarterfinal games. 5 losses by the higher seeds were by #3 seeds—SJU in 09, Bethel in 07, SJU in 06, Car in 03 and UST in 01; the others were #4 Concordia losing in 2008 and #4 St. Olaf losing in 2011   
         
The #3 seed has has reached the title game once- Bethel in 2002   

The #3 seed has never won the tourney

The #4 seed has has reached the title game once- Carleton in 2010 (they won it)            

The #5 seed has has reached the title game once- Gustavus in 2011- but #5 has never won it            

The #5 seed has won 2 quarterfinal games (2008 & 2011) and one semifinal game (2011)            

The #6 seed has never reached the title game            

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Anybody ever witness something like this at an MIAC game?

Gugliotta and Corchiani ejected
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/26283066/34888799

Closest to it was some drunk students ejected for fighting in Johnnie-Tommie games. a good two dozen were ejected in the 1993 classic MIAC Playoff championship game in Collegeville.

NC State has no idea why they were ejected and cant get an answer from the ACC or the refs.

[gacbacker]

The best thing for Gustavus right now might be if Bethel can beat St. Olaf in the quarterfinals. These are the two teams that have given the Gusties the most trouble this year and if Bethel beats Olaf, Bethel would go to St. Thomas and the Gusties would get either SJU or Augsburg, and they swept both of those teams this year. Plus I think I give Bethel the best shot at upsetting the Tommies, and therefore giving the Gusties a chance to host the championship game if they get that far.

[VOJ]

How about the outcome tonight? GAC plows over CC and UST beats out Bethel. It is safe to say Bethel needs a win against GAC saturday to receive a playoff berth. What are everyone's predictions? Personally mine are....

GAC over BU
STO over CAR
SJU over CC - (very intriguing matchup)
HAM over MAC
UST over SMU

If this plays out we'll see GAC win the regular season MIAC outright, as well as putting Hamline and SJU in the playoffs. Let the predictions begin....

Just for the sake of argument, I will go with BU, STO, CORD, HAM and UST...putting BU and HAM in the playoffs and UST as the #1 seed.  BU @GAC is far and away the best matchup of the day, if not the week. Both teams need the W, so something's gotta give. Does anyone know the last time Bethel won at GAC?

Sake of argument?  Nice try maniac...got a nice chuckle out of you picking the Cobbers.  I know it does not matter much now...but I don't think its  the combined record of teams that finish in front of you, its your best win vs their best win...meaning if you beat the conference regular season champ but the team you are tied with did not, you have the tie-breaker.

Biggest shot of the year for the Johnnies:  Burns jumper to win the Hamline game....

[VOJ]

Ugly game for the Gusties today in St Peter.

1st half was VERY physical and relatively well played by both sides.  Seth had a huge first half to keep the Gusties in the game.  Taylor Hall was held in the check for the most part and forced to shoot from the outside.  The 2nd half was all Taylor Hall and good Bethel defense. The Gusties struggled to get any open looks and Seth had to force a bunch of shots...it wasn't pretty.

Of course the game wouldn't have been complete without some terrible MIAC officiating.  A number of WTF calls that had Hanson as angry as I have seen in years.   The officiating did not cost GAC the game but crippled any chance of a rally.

What is going on at Bethel?   Playing GOOD defense?  Not bombing away from behind the arc???

Checked the boxscore, not familiar with Wittman but the other two guys are solid officials.  Also if I had a vote, I would have Neville as the MVP...Anderson has had an awesome year but Neville might have had the best overall year of any player in the conference.

[carletonsid]

Anybody ever witness something like this at an MIAC game?

Gugliotta and Corchiani ejected
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/26283066/34888799

Even the ACC has refs that shouldn't be allowed on the floor anymore (just like the MIAC). Karl "Rabbit Ears" Hess. Doubt he works any NC State games the rest of the year. Absurd.

[miacsuperfan]

The best thing for Gustavus right now might be if Bethel can beat St. Olaf in the quarterfinals. These are the two teams that have given the Gusties the most trouble this year and if Bethel beats Olaf, Bethel would go to St. Thomas and the Gusties would get either SJU or Augsburg, and they swept both of those teams this year. Plus I think I give Bethel the best shot at upsetting the Tommies, and therefore giving the Gusties a chance to host the championship game if they get that far.

so what you are saying, gacbacker, is you don't think the gusties have much of a chance.   
and on that count i would have to agree with you.  i think there are three better teams in the league than gustavus (at this point in the season), and that the ONLY way they get to the final is if they don't have to play oles or royals in the semi-final game.  the game at northfield on wednesday should be a donnybrooke.  and as STO has the best filming crew in the MIAC, i believe my wednesday night viewing plans are solidified.

Ugly game for the Gusties today in St Peter.

1st half was VERY physical and relatively well played by both sides.  Seth had a huge first half to keep the Gusties in the game.  Taylor Hall was held in the check for the most part and forced to shoot from the outside.  The 2nd half was all Taylor Hall and good Bethel defense. The Gusties struggled to get any open looks and Seth had to force a bunch of shots...it wasn't pretty.

Of course the game wouldn't have been complete without some terrible MIAC officiating.  A number of WTF calls that had Hanson as angry as I have seen in years.   The officiating did not cost GAC the game but crippled any chance of a rally.

What is going on at Bethel?   Playing GOOD defense?  Not bombing away from behind the arc???

Checked the boxscore, not familiar with Wittman but the other two guys are solid officials.  Also if I had a vote, I would have Neville as the MVP...Anderson has had an awesome year but Neville might have had the best overall year of any player in the conference.

the officiating (on video) though not great, certainly had no bearing on the outcome. . . duly noted above.   voj--i also like neville, but what anderson has had to do all year to help a very average cast of characters to win a MIAC championship should be (and likely will be) rewarded. 

[carletonsid]

Also want to weigh in on the playoffs...

Really like the way the Oles ended the year. Won last five, went 9-1 in second half and won 10 of final 13. Three losses: two-point loss at home to Augsburg in early January and pair of one-point losses on road to GAC and home with UST. My only concern is lack of prior MIAC Playoff success. Also wonder why Jaryan didn't play in Saturday's win over my Knights (wasn't there, went to South Dakota State to watch Zach Filzen's U of Buffalo team in ESPN Bracket Busters).

If there's any year to feel like a lower seed could win it, this feels like the year. I think St. Olaf, Augsburg, SJU and Bethel are all capable, but of that bunch I'd have to say either the Oles or Royals are best equipped. Not sure that the Auggies lack of point-guard play or SJU's inconsistencies (sorry VOJ) would lead to a three-win win, with two (Auggies) or three (SJU) road wins. Should be a fun week.   

[Patriot]

I haven't been able to attend many games the second half of the season, to busy with work but I was able to watch a few on-line.

IMHO, Tauer will not win coach of the year.  He inherited a solid program with plenty of talent and experience.  He also lost some questionable games.  But, that's the way the MIAC goes - lots of depth and experience in most teams this year made for a great season.

I think it will come down to Hanson or Koz.  Hanson's team was consistent throughout the year with only one proven scorer and a solid supporting cast of good role players.  Koz finished the year very strong with leadership by Neville and Fong and a strong cast of sophomores that provided dependable scoring and defense.

I'll predict Olaf over BU and Augsburg over SJU.  Quarterfinals Olaf @ GAC and AUG at UST - - - - should be a great week of MIAC basketball.